Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

"Largely set in a futuristic World State, inhabited by genetically
modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist."

I personally didn't enjoy this book. Some aspects and ideas where very clever and I genuinely enjoyed them. The first third of the book in which the basic outline of the "Brave New World" and its devalued, conveyer belt morality is set forth is brilliant. The narrative device employed by Huxley of having the Director of Hatchery and Conditioning provide a walking tour to students around the facility as a way of informing the reader on the societal basics was perfect. We learn of the cloning/birthing process, the caste system and the fundamental tenets upon which the society is organized. 

It invited some intriguing concepts. The concept of forced consumerism, social conditioning, the breaking down of all emotional bonds, genetic castes, the dumbing down of media to reduce audience engagement and the use of narcotics to escape anything vaguely disconcerting all have parallels in our own world abet not as extreme. You could definitely understand and identify many of the societal trends that Huxley was concerned about. 

However the rest of the book, and thus the main pathos, fell flat for me. The visit to the reservation, the introduction of John, his arch into ascetic monk/lunatic. None of these elements really make me feel anything. I couldn't connect to John or his struggles. The rest of the book was unemotional, dry and uninteresting. Huxley's final point was lost on me. John was no more sane/ relatable than the rest of the drugged up characters. 

Age Rating 16+. Allusions to sex and some vaguely disturbing imagery. 

Friends and Relations - Edith Bowen

"Friends and Relations follows the exploits of four wealthy families
whose lives are changed forever by a torrid affair. The Studdart sisters each take a husband; for beautiful Laurel there is Edward Tilney, and for the introverted Janet there is Rodney Meggatt. But the marriages are complicated by changeable passions, and each character must navigate the conflict between familial piety and individual desire. With Bowen’s signature blend of tragedy and comedy, Friends and Relations is truly an investigation into the human heart, and the book is as beautiful, mysterious, and moving as its subject."

After reading Bowen's The House in Paris with no idea of the author and being completely blown away by it, I was deeply intrigued to read more of her work. 

Bowen's prose is truly a wonder to behold. The true master in show don't tell, her writing leaves you at once confused and deeply moved. A writer that I feel is fully writing for herself, she barely explains her work but it is so emotionally raw. Leaving you to just sit, and think.  Much like we often don't fully understand other people's feelings or thoughts, why should you be able to fully understand the feelings and emotions of her characters? You aren't allowed the easy emotional clarity offered in so much fiction, you are left in the dark just like in real life. This makes her books a deeply feminine experience, with them being rooted solely in emotions rather then logic or motive while never tipping into sentimentality. 

However, I do have a few gripes with this book. It felt less tight and polished then The House in Paris. There are too many characters and while they're sketched with skill, they can become unwieldy and confusing to keep track of. Following Theodora to school also feels like an unnecessary interlude. 

And, for all my great admiration of Bowen's style, there where sometimes when I wondered what people's deals were? Most specifically Edward.  His mother had an affair with a man and, so, was socially "ruined." But this happened when Edward was very young, he had barely, if any, understanding of what was going on. So, when he got older, I couldn't fully understand why he was so caught up on that event. Why had it so deeply scarred him that he wanted to remove his children from the house when the two people who had once had the affair, his mother and the man, are reunited? 

Another thing that was more obviously brought into my focus was the class dynamics. All these drawing rooms, well-kept gardens and country houses are maintained by servants who are barely perceptible in the novel and the sense of entitlement can be an irritant. 

Age Rating 15+. Nothing untoward but some more difficult prose. 

The Well of Loneliness - Radclyffe Hall

"Stephen is an ideal child of aristocratic parents—a fencer, a horse
rider and a keen scholar. Stephen grows to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. As her ambitions drive her, and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions." 

I' m conflicted about this book. On one hand I enjoyed the writing style, it was elegant and there were some genuinely beautiful and moving passages. The subject matter of queerness and gender non-conformity is dear to my heart, and I deeply related to many of Stephan's struggles which Hall expresses and explores with skill. 

However, the plot drags in the middle, and the opinions expressed are one-sided. Stephan is at least slightly an autobiographical representation of Hall and this gives the book a great emotional weight. But it also closes Hall's ability to write other points of view. The side characters of Wanda and Valerie are fascinating and show opposing reactions to living as a queer women in the early 1900s. I thought that with their introduction, Hall would explore some of the different view-points within the queer community at the time. But no... not at all. A thoroughly missed opportunity I feel, as the side characters turn out to serve no narrative purpose at all. 

I have to be honest that I didn't feel that this was accurately categorised as a lesbian book, though I understand why it was. Our understanding of people and psychology has come along quite a ways. I personally believe that Stephan, and possibly Radclyffe Hall in extension, weren't lesbians but transgender men that didn't have the words. The book itself talks about inverts and the "normal" women that fall in love with them. This also makes sense when looking at Stephan's attitudes to gay men which is frankly down right homophobic. If you read this as a transgender man hating that these man have what they don't i.e. a male body yet are "squandering" it by being feminine, then this makes more sense. Though it is by no means condonable. 

I could not help but be shocked at some of the hypocrisy, the books striving for acceptance of a minority while at the same time there is an underlying attitude of snobbishness and chauvinism towards other minorities. Stephan had certainly taken in the classist dogma of much of the landed gentry and would have been downright awful if she had been born male as her gender non-conformity was the only thing that gave her any self doubt/ interesting foibles. 

Age Rating 14+ Nothing untoward. 

The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen

"When eleven-year-old Henrietta arrives at the Fishers’ well-
appointed house in Paris, she is prepared to spend her day between trains looked after by an old friend of her grandmother’s. Little does Henrietta know what fascinations the Fisher house itself contains–along with secrets that have the potential to topple a marriage and redeem the life of a peculiar young boy. By the time Henrietta leaves the house that evening, she is in possession of the kind of grave knowledge that is usually reserved only for adults."

I was unsure of what to expect with this book, as I picked it up merely because of an intriguing blurb and an aesthetically pleasing cover. What I found inside was a deeply unusual, constrained, tense yet stunningly beautiful work. This book haunts you. 

Some have said that the main characters, the 11 year old Henrietta and the 9 year Leopold, don't act like real children. I have to beg to differ. The rigid mistrust and hierarchy is very true to the experience of the inner lives of children. (Or at least to my experience of childhood.) Children don't fully understand that they are children, thus their emotions and inner lives are by no means neutered by that fact. 

The plot is relatively simple, a sad romantic entanglement between a group of friends. It's simplicity is what makes it brilliant, it allows Bowen the time and space to really explore the emotions, tensions and atmosphere of these characters. What most struck me was Bowen's writing style. Bowen’s sensibility is heightened to the pitch of a lonely woman in a big house who hears what sounds like an intruder downstairs in the middle of the night. Inanimate objects become animated and not only contribute to the tension of every passing moment but define it. The way light falls or dwindles becomes a coded text of prophecy. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the book, at once feeling melodiously slow and tensely frenetic. Bowen's primary story-telling device is dialogue, dialogue filled with hidden meaning delivered in staccato. This tempo gets even more frenetic when Bowen writes in monologue, telling a person's thoughts. Bowen covers a range of themes in a relatively short book: the creation of identity, time, secrets and lies, sexuality and sensuality, the constraints of society, death, the relationship between mothers and their children.

The most fascinating character to me was definitely Madame Fisher, the controlling and menacing matriarch. Her ever-watching presence that consumes the house with a creeping ennui. 

A story of passion and heartbreak, of sexual power and destruction - without ever being voyeuristic, it is deeply erotic. Leopold is the living personification of passion spent and lost, and his future, standing at the station in the end, is just as open as his mother's was before her path was chosen. This novel spins an intricate and horrifying atmosphere, that feels at once deeply peaceful and deeply unnerving. A book that is less enjoyed but felt. I would highly recommend.

Age Rating 16+ Adult themes and a unique writing style that might need a slightly higher comprehension to understand/appreciate. 

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

"

When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience,
Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.

In North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature."

Margaret Hale, full of southern pride, finds herself suddenly placed in a northern industrial city. Having entertained a strong prejudice against the tradesmen, she views the northern mill owners to be similar uncouth men. Her pride and the misconceived notions mar her better judgment and she forms an instant dislike for Mr. Thornton. This dislike was mutual initially, but Mr. Thornton goes through gradual change; and although he dislikes her haughty ways, he slowly learns to appreciate her for her true qualities and falls in love. Margaret, though not as quickly as Mr. Thornton, too goes through this gradual change and learns to appreciate who he truly is.

Gaskell's ideas of use for these two characters is twofold. First, through these characters, one from the south and other from north, she shows us how the different views, beliefs, and misconceptions of the two ends were reconciled. The southerners saw the industrial northern cities as noisy, smoky, and full of uncouth people while the northerners saw the south as full of idle people who lacked action, depth and individuality. It was interesting to see how Gaskell expressed these clashing views of both ends through her main characters, and the final reconciliation of the two was more like a reconciliation of North and South (ehmmehm...title..ehm) where both sides come to understand and respect their different ways. Second is, of course, for the obvious reason of filling a love story. Gaskell has achieved these two-folds end brilliantly.

The broad scope of the novel, coupled with insightful depth and comment means that each reading of the book can offer something new. Read it as a straight forward (or not) love story, a fictional romantic biography. Then discover the class politics that run through the novel. Or perhaps the debate (as the title suggests) between the rapidly industrialising north and the more gentrified south. Or the sexual and gender politics that create a constant thematic pulse throughout the book... Or any other matter you choose to seek out from religion to the nature of authority and so on and so forth. 

I loved the writing style and all characters where brought to life with a subtly yet strong believability. I especially loved John Thornton's character. He was so strong yet conflicted and deeply emotional... the bloody handshake drama was almost to much for me. I also thought that his interactions with his mother were top notch. 

I have only two problems with this novel. Firstly, Gaskell's own heavily religious ideas come through strongly in the text at times, though luckily not pervading the entire novel. This can get occasionally frustrating for someone who isn't religious, however I understand that it was true to the times and doesn't detract for the overall wonderful book. 

My second issue is the last few ending chapters really slow down in pace and feel less character driven. We somehow pull-out of the emotional worlds of our two leads. There is less urgency and we just kind of wait around with Margaret for months as she grieves. This is a disappointment, especially as the pacing for the rest of the book was so excellent. 

Age Rating 14+. A man commits suicide, a slightly worrying strike, death. However all described in accordance to 19th centaury sensibility. 

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

"When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her 'cousin' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future."

I adore Hardy's writing. His prose and writing style is understatedly sublime, and there where many stunning passages about nature, religion and the human condition that left me breathless. 

However I take exception to Hardy's characterisation, plot and the widely accepted reading of this book.

In my humble opinion, I believe this book has been fundamentally misunderstood by English Literature curriculums everywhere. They often say that Alec represents Tess's debasement, Satan, and Angel her salvation, making many biblical allusions to Original sin and Tess being Eve. I don't see that at all. Alec does not seduce Tess, she never gives into temptation. He rapes her forcefully even though she refused his advances repeatedly. Tess is never debased other than on the eyes of society. 

Angel, the man supposed to be her salvation and so oh so subtly named, is an idiot. He doesn't love Tess for Tess, he barely knows her. Rather he loves the idea of her that he has conjured up for her, the biblical virginal Mary figure of his imagining. (I am sorry but what kind of pervert refers to a women they have just met as virginal? Even in their own thoughts?)His concept of a purer, less worldly milkmaid is so false and his romanticisation of the lower working classes was bordering of fetishist. This clash between his Christian idealised pastoral concept with the reality of the more pagan, more earthy workers was telling.  

I also found the emphasis on Tess's copying of Angel's ideas, attitudes, even speech and movement horrifying. Maybe a link between the easy acceptance of religious doctrine and how it abolishes free thought? Her acceptance of Angel's abandonment is also judged by Hardy as foolhardy. She should have pushed harder, but her own values have so demonised her in her own mind that she now views herself as unworthy of .. well pretty much everything. Hardy having Angel admit to having sex a few lines prior to Tess's confession of rape further highlighted the hypocrisy. Angel gave into temptation, if we carry on with the biblical allegory, he sinned and sinned willingly. Tess however, a women forcibly raped, someone who never gave into Alec, is seen as more "dirty", more sinful? I call BULLSHIT. 

I can understand the biblical allusions that have been read into the book but I found, while reading, this book to be, rather, a subtle critic of religion. Tess, through her and her societies religious beliefs is demonised for something completely out of her control, something she should be pitied for. Hardy makes a point of showing that the farm workers, ostensibly more "pagan" didn't hold Tess as accountable as the otherwise more civilised, read Christian, upper classes. 

Both Alec and Angel represent a dominating power, a wish to mould Tess in their own image. To own her completely, both physically and morally. Tess is a blank slate for them to project anything they want onto. Alec at least was able to see his own hypocrisy, he immediately drops his new biblical image after realising that he still lusts after Tess. Angel is not so honest with himself.

Tess's eventual murder of Alec felt more induced by shame and a feeling of entrapment, unnecessary shame as Hardy takes point in assuring us. Her violence could be read, not to stem from a debauchment of the soul but rather a very Christian shame that has been forced on her by Angel. 

Sorry for the very long rant. I have no idea if Hardy wished his book to be read in this way, but this is how I interpreted it. 

Age Rating 15+. Some serious topics are covered like rape, poverty, abandonment and death of a child. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

"Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succès de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb."

During Lockdown I thought it would be fun to take advantage of the free audiobooks and listen to The Picture of Dorian Gray, a book that has been on my reading list for a while. So I sat down and listened while frantically crocheting. 

This was my first experience in reading/listening to Oscar Wilde and the man’s gift for prose and dialogue is magical. I very quickly came to understand why he is such a beloved author. This story reads somewhat like a dark, corrupted Jane Austen in that the writing was snappy and pleasant on the ear so perfectly fit for a modern audience, but the feeling it left you with was one of hopelessness and despair.

The level of cynicism and societal disregard that Wilde’s characters display towards humanity is simply staggering and dangerously interesting to explore. Despite the dark aspects (or more likely because of it) this is one of the most engaging, compelling and lyrical pieces of literature I have read. The quality of the prose is nothing short of masterful. Many books have multiple meanings and morals layered within them but this is probably the best example of this that I have found. Themes, morals and social observations are made and discussed, weaved through the entire piece leaving you reeling and introspective. 

I assume most people know the basic outline of the plot, but I will give you a few sentences on it anyway. The three main characters are Basil Hallward, Lord Henry Wotton and Dorian Gray. Basil Hallward is an artist who after painting a picture of Dorian Gray becomes obsessed with him because of his beauty. The homosexual vs. muse adoration that Basil feels towards Dorian is left vague, likely because of the time it was written. Dorian then meets a friend of Basil’s, Lord Henry, and becomes enthralled with Lord Henry’s world view, which is a form of extreme hedonism that posits that the only worthwhile life is one spent pursuing beauty and satisfaction for the senses in the most ruinous of ways.

While this story is often mentioned among the classics of the Horror genre (which I do have a problem with) this is much more a study of the human monster/hidden psyche than it is some bogeyman. My favourite parts of the story were the extensive dialogues between the characters, usually Dorian and Lord Henry. They were wonderfully perverse and display a level of casual cruelty and vileness towards humanity. Dorian, while often portrayed as someone innocent lead astray, I must heartily disagree. He is quite evil, when I say evil, I don't mean just misguided or weak-minded, someone bamboozled by the clever lectures of Lord Henry. I found Gray to be selfish, vain, inhumanly callous, sadistically cruel and capriciously thoughtless. 

Overall one of the few classics genuinely worth the name. I loved the prose and dialogue but definitely not for you if you are someone that doesn't enjoy lots of prose. 

Age Rating 14+. There are some more shocking moments like a murder, but other than that it is quite tame. There are a few allusions to gay relationships, lots of young men are disgraced after knowing Dorian but that is so vague and really just a mere suggestion. 

Persuasion - Jane Austen

"Eight years before the story proper begins, Anne Elliot is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?"

Personally Persuasion is one of Jane Austen's most moving, realistic and serious of her books with a strong underlying moral message. While all of Austen's novels are generally comic, Persuasion is the most nuanced. It's been described as "autumnal" and that word suits it very well. There's a quiet bittersweetness to it that you just don't get in Austen's other work.

Anne is an older heroine, roughly 27, and so disasterously near being on the shelf, as it where. Love seems to have deserted her and her sorrow has marred her beauty. She is in great danger of ceasing to exist, not physically, but socially. When we meet her, she's barely there at all. Although a woman of strong feelings and high intelligence, she is ignored and overlooked by most of the other characters, being called "only Anne." In the universe of Austen's novels, the individual doesn't truly exist unless connected with the social world, and while Anne has a stoic strength, we understand that she is in some senses doomed if things don't change for her. 

Anne might not suit everyone as a character and I can completely understand that. She is far less spunky than other Austen heroines with no witty repartie or sharp comebacks and can strike some as being a bit of a push over. In some ways I can agree with that. She isn't the kind of character that I would normally gravitate towards. However, I think there is something to be learnt in Anne's stoic handling of the situation. She has every reason to be angery and resentful at her treatement, yet she is unfailingly kind, self controlled and endearing. 

The small cast of character inhance the importance of the social network during that period, and displays the smallness of people's worlds and connections. Everything feels isolated and Anne has no where to turn to for a differing opinion, she feels so very alone. 

Austen's intelligence, dry wit and humor are evidenced on every page. She makes observation on the human condition that stand today and will leave modern audience chuckling in recognition. The melancholy, autumnal feel of the first part of the book, when all you can see is Anne's blighted hopes and how she is disregarded and mistreated by almost everyone around her, is wrenching. Then, like springtime, comes the slow, gradual return of joy and hope to Anne's life. 

Age Rating 12+ Absolutely nothing untoward. I was having Jane Austen's books read to me since I was tiny. 

Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

IndependentandspiritedBathshebaEverdenehascometoWeatherburytotakeupherpositionasafarmeronthelargestestateinthearea.Herboldpresencedrawsthreeverydifferentsuitors:thegentleman-farmerBoldwood,soldier-seducerSergeantTroyandthedevotedshepherdGabrielOak.Each,incontrastingways,unsettlesherdecisionsandcomplicatesherlife,andtragedyensues,threateningthestabilityofthewholecommunity.ThefirstofhisworkssetinthefictionalcountyofWessex,Hardy'snovelofswiftpassionandslowcourtshipisimbuedwithhisevocativedescriptionsofrurallifeandlandscapes,andwithunflinchinghonestyaboutsexualrelationships.IndependentandspiritedBathshebaEverdenehascometoWeatherburytotakeupherpositionasafarmeronthelargestestateinthearea.Herboldpresencedrawsthreeverydifferentsuitors:thegentleman-farmerBoldwood,soldier-seducerSergeantTroyandthedevotedshepherdGabrielOak.Each,incontrastingways,unsettlesherdecisionsandcomplicatesherlife,andtragedyensues,threateningthestabilityofthewholecommunity.ThefirstofhisworkssetinthefictionalcountyofWessex,Hardy'snovelofswiftpassionandslowcourtshipisimbuedwithhisevocativedescriptionsofrurallifeandlandscapes,andwithunflinchinghonestyaboutsexualrelationships.IndependentandspiritedBathshebaEverdenehascometoWeatherburytotakeupherpositionasafarmeronthelargestestateinthearea.Herboldpresencedrawsthreeverydifferentsuitors:thegentleman-farmerBoldwood,soldier-seducerSergeantTroyandthedevotedshepherdGabrielOak.Each,incontrastingways,unsettlesherdecisionsandcomplicatesherlife,andtragedyensues,threateningthestabilityofthewholecommunity.ThefirstofhisworkssetinthefictionalcountyofWessex,Hardy'snovelofswiftpassionandslowcourtshipisimbuedwithhisevocativedescriptionsofrurallifeandlandscapes,andwithunflinchinghonestyaboutsexualrelationships.IndependentandspiritedBathshebaEverdenehascometoWeatherburytotakeupherpositionasafarmeronthelargestestateinthearea.Herboldpresencedrawsthreeverydifferentsuitors:thegentleman-farmerBoldwood,soldier-seducerSergeantTroyandthedevotedshepherdGabrielOak.Each,incontrastingways,unsettlesherdecisionsandcomplicatesherlife,andtragedyensues,threateningthestabilityofthewholecommunity.ThefirstofhisworkssetinthefictionalcountyofWessex,Hardy'snovelofswiftpassionandslowcourtshipisimbuedwithhisevocativedescriptionsofrurallifeandlandscapes,andwithunflinchinghonestyaboutsexualrelationships.

"Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy's novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships."

There are some very memorable key characters in this book, and some that are worthy of a punch in the face. There is, of course, one of my greatest literary men of all time, Gabriel Oak. 

But it's the small, supporting crowd that really elevates the book. There's self-righteous but well-meaning Joseph Poorgrass, full of bible verses and pseudo-wisdom; sweet, simple Liddy Smallbury, Bathsheba's friend, confidant, doormat and indentured servant; Lana Tall, throughly under the cats paw; the ol' maltster, coming up on 184 years of age give or take; and the true heroes of the story, namely the sheep.

Bathsheba Everdene, our main character, is described as a free-spirited, independent, and strong-willed woman named after King David's queen and Solomon's mother is subject to much scrutiny. Many people find fault in her apparent fall from Hardy's descriptions. She becomes weak, slavish, and inconsistent especially with regards to her love with Sergeant Troy. Hardy is often accused of gender-stereotyping and sometimes rightly so. There are instances where he blames Bathsheba's weakness of character to her "womanliness". But I should say that it is unfair to accost him because of this. He did live in a society that practiced much worse treatments. You have to keep in mind that gender emancipation was not yet realized in 1874 and it certainly shows. Though, I should add that Bathsheba's inconsistency with Sergeant Troy is mainly due to the type of love that they share, and is no fault of Mr. Hardy. 

Three choices are presented to Bathsheba. The Sergeant Troy, the gentleman farmer Boldwood, and the shepherd Gabriel Oak, all three signifying different kinds of love. This, I believe is the main idea of the book, to enumerate and dissect the different kinds of love present in a lover's beating heart. Sergeant Troy's love, if it is to be called love at all, is known by the name of passion. It is physical attraction, the weakest of the three. It is easily suppressed and forgotten. Some may even call it lust, one of the seven deadly sins. If it is so, then it veers away from the goodness that we attribute to love. No wonder, Bathseba's relationship with Troy is destructive. It is also the reason, why I stated earlier, that Bathsheba becomes inconsistent when she is around Troy. For the temptation of lust weakens even the strongest and most virtuous of people. Bathsheba's flaws are clearly not a byproduct of gender, as some claim it to be, but it lies in human nature itself. This, I understand, should clear some misgivings about Mr. Hardy. Also, in application, I understand that most marriages are destroyed because a great number of couples mistake this passion for love and hastily vow forever. And so, when it is exhausted, as it easily is, the marriage falls apart. Exactly like Bathsheba and Troy.

Moving on, farmer Boldwood's love, on the other hand, is a kind of wild and strong, yet self-centred love. It is strengthened to an insane proportion but it only seeks to appease itself, it doesn't consider the person it is being given to. It is like a fire burning and scorching everything in its path; it is a dangerous kind of love that will turn everything to dust after the love has been consumed. And as exemplified, this is the kind of love that makes people do crazy things, like murder. It is a love so self-centred that it will deny its recipient of happiness when rejected. 

Lastly, we come to shepherd Gabriel Oak's love. In contrast to Mr. Boldwood's self-centred love, this love is so great that Gabriel is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for the sake of hers. I believe this is the strongest of the three. Willing to consider, willing to endure, willing to suffer for the sake of one it loves. It may not be as bright as Troy's passion, or loud as Boldwood's insane self-love, but it is never wavering in its steady stream of purity. Like Oak, it is often ignored by its recipient in favour of those kinds much brighter and louder. But, also like Oak, when it is given the chance, it is the one that will last forever.

While I understand the points that Hardy was trying to get at, I still found myself desperate to reach into the story and slap Bathsheba a few times. She comes across so self centred and falls into melancholic despair at the drop of a hat. For someone supposedly so strong she is barely self sufficient. 

Sarcasm and sketchy 19th-century sexism aside, Hardy really is a brilliant wordsmith and there are so many gems throughout the novel- wise commentary, clever dialogue, wry observations on human relationships. The writing is beautiful, if not a little long-winded and flowery when giving descriptions of the Wessex countryside. I get it, you've convinced me, it’s great to be far from the madding crowd. 

Overall worth the read, entertaining and relatively fast paced for a book of its time. 

Age Rating 14+. Nothing untoward except one instance of a man being shot. 

Maurice - E.M Forster

"Maurice is heartbroken over unrequited love, which opened his heart and mind to his own sexual identity. In order to be true to himself, he goes against the grain of society’s often unspoken rules of class, wealth, and politics."

I am going to be honest. I had no idea what this book was about when I reserved it from the library. I knew that it was on a lot of classic to-read lists, and that E. M Forster is considered one of the foremost British authors. So I was quite surprised and happily shocked when I figured out what the book was about. 

When Forster penned Maurice, homosexuality was so taboo that there was no name for it. For a man to be with another man was a criminal offense. One of the most touching things about this book is seeing the protagonist – the closeted, very ordinary stockbroker Maurice – struggling to describe who he is and what he's feeling. He eventually comes up with something vague about Oscar Wilde. 

I appreciate the fact that Maurice, unlike Forster himself, is a very unremarkable man: he's conservative, a snob, not very interested in music or philosophy and rather dull. However, he's living with this extraordinary secret that affects his entire life and the book shows how he deals with it, in his secretive relationship with his Cambridge friend Clive Durham, and later with gamekeeper Alec Scudder. 

It would have been so easy for Forster to write a novel about a sensitive, soulful, brilliant, sympathetic character. How could we not love him, even though he's gay? But that seems to be the point. However, I did find it hard to actually like Maurice at all until the very end. He is emotionally brusque, misogynistic and thoroughly self obsessed. This is on hindsight a brilliant representation of a closeted man's anger and violently subtle rejection of social norms. 

Some details in the book are dated. The language at times feels stilted. The class system isn't as pronounced today as it was then. The influence of time setting is also seen in Maurice's relationship with Clive Durham.  The developing relationship between Maurice and fellow Cambridge student Clive Durham is touching in its intimacy and affection—but then, but then, but then— the relationship stalls at intimacy. Maurice is coaxed by Clive, led on (if you will), only to reach a wall—a wall of this-far-and-no-further. After ‘outing’ himself, Clive seemingly has no ‘out’ to arrive at. His bold confession to Maurice is overstated, leaving Maurice confused and wanting more. While this novel is certainly a matter of time and place, the Platonic relationship just doesn’t ring true for a contemporary understanding and certainly dates the book, it registers as alien in modern readers of anything other than Christian fiction.

Maurice eventually finds his absolution and love in the arms of Scudder the game keeper. An unlikely combination but Scudder's naïve acceptance of his homosexuality is refreshing in it's nature. This relationship did feel very rushed and I wasn't completely convinced about the lasting nature of it.  Scudder is a character that creeps out of the background and has a more profound effect on Maurice than originally anticipated. 

Overall a flawed book but one made a classic by the unusualness of its subject matter at the time. Maurice goes through an emotional hell and back, looking at his sexual orientation as an abomination, a disease that has no cure, though treatments are sought the internal struggle remains until it nearly drives him to suicidal feelings, and eventually acceptance.  It was a moving book, with some excellent passages.  I would say a must read for anyone interested in literary history. 

Age Rating 15+. Very light allusions to sex that you might even miss. Just some more difficult language and themes. 

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

"John Utterson is the main character in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is a lawyer and a friend of Dr. Henry Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll is a scientist who, while searching for a way to separate his good self from his bad impulses, creates a potion that transforms himself into a man without a conscience."

There’s a reason this novella has stood the test of time - it is creepy and interesting as hell. I think there’s something very terrifying to me about the idea of losing humanity and sanity, at first due to your own choices but later because of forces you cannot control. Robert Louis Stevenson allegedly wrote this while on drugs, and you can definitely feel that experience in the book. 

Structurally, the novella crams, stuffs and presses a complete, fully-fleshed story in its scant 88 pages by using a brilliant combo of point of view changes, dialogue, flashback and epistolary components. In lesser hands, the amount of information and story contained in this tale would have required a lot more paper. In addition to being a model of conciseness, the change in style, in my opinion, added to the enjoyment of the story by allowing the reader to be more “present” during the narrative.

Content-wise, Stevenson really knocks the cover off the ball. Despite being written in 1886, this tale still stands as the quintessential fictional examination of the duality of man’s nature and the very human struggle between the civilized and primal aspects of our beings. The constrained, repressive society of the Victorian Period in which the story takes place provides the perfect back drop for the model of outward English propriety, Dr. Henry Jekyll, to battle (metaphorically and literally) the darker, baser but still very human desires personified in the person of Edward Hyde. What a perfect allegory between the face people wear in public and the one they take out only in private.

This is such a short book and I don’t know quite what else to say, but guys... I love Victorian horror. It's so fucking weird and wild and all about Transgressing Social Norms and Being Subversive and this is the kind of shit I am HERE for!! I know that the whole story is supposed to be some deep philosophical look at the duality of human nature.
While that is extremely interesting, that wasn't what really interested me.
No, what kept me going was trying to figure out what the hell kind of kink this mild-mannered old fart was into! Seriously.
He developed a freaking magic serum just so he could run around and do...WHAT?! What was so off the charts freaky that he'd need to transform into a different person to get away with it?
But, unfortunately, Stevenson never gives us a straight answer. He just decided to skip over the juicy bits and ratchet up the tension with the with the whole Good vs Evil thing.

Overall a true classic that was the starting base for many philosophical debates and literary trends.

Age Rating 12+. Nothing untoward but a few creepy moments.